Over the past several weeks, rumors have floated around Knox that a furniture manufacturing plant will be locating here. Those rumors have been confirmed. Selected Furniture will be moving to Knox from China. The deal was closed last night when the Knox City Council passed two resolutions: one for economic revitalization and the other on benefits for tax abatement.
Ron Gifford from the Starke County Economic Development Foundation appeared before the Knox City Council last week seeking a Statement of Benefits document for the Toll Brothers plant in Knox. Toll Brothers is the preeminent luxury home-builder in America.
The Statement of Benefits document that Toll Brothers is seeking is to certify that they are in substantial compliance with the original tax abatement that was granted.
The Knox City Council has enthusiastically given its approval to block off a portion of Airway Drive on June 16th from noon until 10:00 p.m. for a block party. Jessie Cabrera from the Mexico Lindo Restaurant requested that the block be closed from Heaton Street one block on Airway Drive.
Cabrera said there will be music, dining and a carnival to celebrate the restaurant’s 5th anniversary in operation.
Attorney Ed Volk came before the Knox City Council this week requesting a resolution approving the Rockwell property in Knox as an Economic Revitalization area. According to Volk, this would open the way for the sale of the property and hopefully employment opportunities for area residents.
The resolution had to be signed before there can be a statement of benefits. After publication, notices will be sent to all taxing entities. This is all required by statute.
To date, Mayor Rick Chambers has been unable to fill the Water Superintendent position with the city, so this week he told the Knox City Council members that he has come to an agreement with a part-time person.
“His name is Bob Johnson, and he lives just over the Marshall County line near Koontz Lake,” reported Mayor Chambers. “He will come in five days a week and take the water samples. Since I’ve been unable to find a Superintendent, Gordon Burger has filled in, but he wants to be done by the end of March.”
Mayor Rick Chambers announced at the most recent Knox City Council meeting that there was money left over from the Storm Sewer Infrastructure project.
Chambers said Territorial Engineers has looked over the project, and the Knox Street Department was given the extra money.
“The street department had the first shot at it and they wanted some streets repaved and overlaid,” stated Mayor Chambers. “The streets to be repaved are Sycamore between John and Bender, and John Street east of U.S. 35 from Prettyman to McGill will also be completely repaved.”
It might just be a sign of the times but more and more municipalities are installing surveillance cameras. Knox Mayor Rick Chambers brought the idea of installing cameras in City Hall to the City Council meeting recently. In his presentation, Chambers said there are irate customers from time to time at the Clerk-Treasurer’s office and the Knox City Court. The court has the potential for incidents to happen in the heat of testimony and decisions being made from the bench.
The City of Knox has to create an ordinance establishing new districts before December 31st, 2012. The new districts have to be changed if new precincts are created.
City Attorney David Matsey said new districts do not have to be established because of population shifts as everyone votes for all council members regardless of districts. Some districts have double the population count as others, as the maps are drawn geographically.
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers told the City Council members recently that a meeting was held to organize for this summer’s Harvest Days celebration. The Mayor said the event will be held the last weekend in August as in past years.
The name of the organization that is assisting the Mayor is the Knox-Winamac Health Care System.
Online auction shopping website eBay came to the rescue of the City of Knox recently. Unable to sell used equipment and vehicles, the city has turned to eBay and it has turned out to be a gold mine. The most recent thing sold was an
old fire truck, as Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explains.
“We sold the old firetruck on eBay for $4850, and that seems to be a pretty good process for us. We used to set vehicles around and put “For Sale,” and we did set this up here so people could see it, but it had the email address and stuff to be able to bid on it for a certain length of time on eBay rather than to come in and make bids with us. I like it a lot better, and I’m real happy with the rate that we are getting compared with what we were getting before,” said Houston.
As they say, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” The old fire truck was taken away by a buyer in Michigan.
An interesting story about eBay. The founder, Pierre Omidyar, sold a broken laser pointer in 1995. It was the first item sold over eBay, and Omidyar was so astonished that he called the buyer back and asked, “Do you realize this laser pointer is broken?” To which the man replied, “I’m in the market for broken laser pointers, not new ones.”
Omidyar then realized eBay might really be successful.
The old Pennsylvania Central Bridge that spans the Yellow River at the east end of Wythogan Park was the topic of discussion during the recent Knox City Council meeting.
The Council has discussed taking the bridge out and possibly having the removal paid for by the scrap iron in the structure. Mayor Rick Chambers put a stop to that when he said the scrap wouldn’t pay for the demolition.
A $424,620 grant was recently presented to the City of Knox by Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman. Knox Mayor Rick Chambers accompanied a number of members from the Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, or CADA, to the Indianapolis presentation last Friday for the award ceremony.
The City of Knox applied for a Community Focus Fund Grant, in partnership with CADA. In previous meetings of the Knox City Council, Ruth Matsey explained the need for an addition to the Phoenix House building. Water ruined a portion of the building that was used for storage. The money from the grant will be used for the construction of the addition.
The Knox City Council discussed the need to do a Water Rates Study. Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explained the situation to the Council.
“We’re asking Umbaugh to do a study on the last three calendar years to determine the trends and the amounts of revenue that we have for the operation, maintenance, cash expenses, debt service requirements in the water department. They will also come up with a capital improvement plan so that we know that we have enough money in the future to cover whatever we need.”
Mayor Rick Chambers passed out praise at the Knox City Council meeting this week. Chambers thanked Knox City Police Officer, Chad Dulin, and Knox-Center Township fireman, Wayne Noah, for quick action in saving the life of a child in an accident that occurred Saturday at 200 East and State Road 8. The car went into the ditch and began filling with water. The pair arrived on scene and helped get the child out of the car. The fire department then arrived on the scene and extricated the driver out of the car.
The Mayor also praised the Knox High School Girls basketball team who brought home the first Sectional crown since 1995.
Looking back in time, it was on this date in 1979 that Knox Fire Chief Pete Corey came before the Knox City Council to quote figures on a new $180,000 fire truck.
The 35 foot long, 10 foot high truck would be equipped with a telescopic unit, bucket and ladder. Corey said because of multiple story buildings being built locally the need for this type of fire protection is needed. City Attorney Henry Hart was asked to report back with a financing plan for such a truck.
A list of goals to improve the look of downtown Knox was presented to the city council by Council President Jeff Berg at their recent work session. According to Berg, the list consists of several basic goals that can be easily attained and most of them can be performed by the city at little cost.
The list of community goals included items as simple as replacing old fire hydrants, bracketing Heaton Street light poles for future flag and banner use, and resurfacing the Wythogan Park basketball court, which Berg says is in dire need of repair. The estimated cost of this project has been projected to approximately $31,000, and no decision has been made as to where that money will come from.
The pending lawsuit from Edward Risner against the city of Knox was discussed further at the recent meeting of the Knox City Council. Risner claims in his suit that the city committed a breach of verbal contract, and requests $40,000 in reimbursement.
The suit was originally filed in federal court, but was dismissed and has been re-filed. Unfortunately, because the city’s liability carrier does not cover this kind of suit, the city will have to hire its own counsel out-of-pocket. Two firms expressed interest in handling the case: a firm out of LaPorte that quoted the city $150 per hour and estimated a total of nearly 130 hours for the case. The firm of City Attorney David Matsey quoted $120 an hour, and Matsey said that he hopes to get the case thrown out before it ever gets to trial.
The Knox City Council approved the purchase of a property in the Parkview Heights area.
The Council purchased property at 404 Giles Court. On the property is a 1950’s-type trailer, and the owner, James Landrum, offered to sell it to the city for $2,000.00. Mayor Rick Chambers said on top of the purchase price the council would need to figure the cost of cleaning up the property.
Knox City Attorney David Matsey has informed Mayor Rick Chambers and the City Council members that he has been notified by Umbaugh and Associates that now might be the time to refinance the Community Center bonds. Umbaugh and Associates reported that the rates have gone down again.
The Knox City Council discussed the 2012 Mayoral Appointments at their recent meeting. There is currently no water superintendent for the city because the previous superintendent was released from duty earlier this week. A seat on the Starke County Alcoholic Beverage Board is also open, and Mayor Rick Chambers told the council that he will possibly be seeking an Ordinance Officer in the summer. That position was previously handled by the police, but according to Chambers, that hasn’t worked out as well as he’d hoped.
